Hopper door of cast metal



Feb. 9, 1932. G. e. GILPIN -HOP PER DOOR OF CAST METAL Original Filed Jan. 27, 1928 v 2 Sheets-Sheet l o o o o o Feb. 9, 1932. GILHN 1,844,063-

HQPPER DOOR OF CAST METAL Original Filed Jan. 27, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 9, 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-IE1 GAB-TH G. GILPIN, OF RIVERSIDE, ILLINOIS. ASSIGNOR TO UNION METAL PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ACORPORATION OF DELAWARE HOPPER DOOR 0F CAST METAL Original application filed .Tanuary 27, 1928, Serial No. 250,001. Patent No. 1,805,662,:dated May 19, 193 1.

Divided and this application filed April 18,1931. Serial 1%. 531,094.

My invention relates to the construction of Y railway cars having drop doors, such as hopper cars, hopper gondola cars, drop bottom open. Any means of raising the door to the closed position and any means for locking and releasing the door may be employed with my device.

A door for this purpose must be very strong and durable because:

, First, it is a part of the floor of the car and as such must sustain the load as well as the impact blow of the load when the car is in motion. Second, the car is frequently loaded from chutes or tipples from a height of ten feet or more, causing the load to be dropped directly upon the doors. Third, clam shell buckets are frequently used to unload such cars and it is not uncommon for these buckets to rest upon and drag over the doors. Fourth, when the door suddenly comes to rest after being dropped, it is not only subjected to a severe shock. but it must sustain the severe impact thrust of the load which of course follows the door. Fifth, as the load is theoretically equallydistributed, the door mustbe strong over its entire area and must be capable of transmitting the resulting stresses to the car body without much deflection and no substantial distortion. Any bending of the door or drooping of the corners would cause a leak of the lading, especially of such fine material as sand, chats, etc. Any bending or warping might interfere with the complete closing and locking of the door.

An object of the invention is to provide a door of cast metal, preferably malleable iron or cast steel, having a panel portion forming a floor or wall of a car and to reinforce such panel with cast integral members and to form and shape the entire door so that it will not be deformed by warping when cooling, and furthermore, will eliminate shrinkage cracks and internal stresses. I I

Both cast metal and annealed cast metal offer greater resistance to corrosion (and sim ilar chemical actions) than rolled steel owing to the texture of the metal. When rolled steel is deformd between dies (whether heated or not) the fibres on the tension sideof the metal are opened up or separatedby stretching, while the fibres on the compression side of the metal are forced togetherand upset. Both such opening up and upsetting actions disrupts the homogeneity of the fibres, thus permitting the entrance of moisture therebetween and augmenting'corrosion, therefore, another object is toprovide a door more capable to resist corrosion. Railway cars are not only subject to the usual atmospheric conditions but are subject to chemical actions of certain loads, such as, for instance, wet coal which forms sulphuric acid.

In the drawings: 1

Fig. 1 shows a portion of a railway car with my device applied thereon.

Fig.2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1.

side.

Fig. 5 is a sectionon line 5'5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 4.

In casting a door having an integral depending flange extending around all four of its sides, the liquid metal is preferably poured through a plurality of gates into the panel portion of the door from whence it flows into the integral flange. The lower portion of the flange, therefore, cools first and offers resistance to the contraction exerted by the cooling panel portion. If a transverse integral rib is provided which merges into opposite portions of the integral flange, the cooling of the panel portion would break one end (or 90 I maybe both ends) of the transverse rib away from the integral flange or cause a rupture of the lower side of the transverse rib. These are called shrinkage cracks. The relatively cool perimeter of the panel (i. e., the integral flange) may oiler suflicientresistance to the contraction of the cooling panel to crack the panel. Sometimes these stresses are not sufiicientto crack and sever the metal but cause 1 w internal (latent) stresses which when 1n- Fig. 4 is a detail of the door from the under- 75 the door completely closes this opening, and

in fact, is a trifle larger on all sides than the opening so as to provide a lap joint between the door and the car frame member. The doors are hinged to the center construction and are supported adjacent the side wall by the raising or locking mechanism. Any convenient stop may be used to limit the downward movement of the door.

The cast metal door'comprises a panel 5 with a continuous depending integral flange 6 extending around. all four sides of the panel. The door is provided with one or more primary reinforcing ribs 7 with their opposite ends 8 terminating within the panel adjacent opposite portions of the, depending flange so that any load imposed thereon is carried to points near the depending flange. These ribs preferably increase in depth toward their middle portions. I also provide 1- other or secondary ribs 9 extending substantially normal to and merging into the first mentioned ribs 7 and which preferably extend therebeyond (10) and merge into the panel adjacent the flange 6 at 11. These secondary ribs 9 transmit any load imposed upon them to the main ribs 7 and to the depending flange 6.

As the panel portion of the door cools there is a tendency to elongate the transverse reinforcing ribs causing a stretching of the tension sideof the rib, therefore, I prefer to form them on the arcs of a circle or to wave them, or broadly speaking, to form them in some other than a straight line.

The hinge lugs 16 are cast integral with the depending flange 6 and some of the reinforcing ribs preferably terminate into the panel adjacent the integral hinge lugs so as to carry their stresses to the hinges. The door supporting or raising brackets 18 are preferably positioned adjacent the opposite margin of the door from the hinge lugs 16.

Theaccompanying drawings illustrate the preferred form ofthe invention, though it is to be understood that the invention is not limited tothe exact details of construction shown and described, as it is obvious that various modifications thereof, within the scope of the claims, will occur to persons skilled in the art.

In applications Serial No. 249,999; No. 250,000; No. 250,002 and No. 250,003, all filed January 27, 1928, I have disclosed and claimed certain features disclosed but not claimed herein I A This is a division of my co-pending application Serial No. 250,001, filed January 27, 1928, now Patent 1,805,662, dated May 19, 1931.

I claim:

1. In a railway car, a door with one margin thereof supported from the car by hinges, means for supporting the opposite margin of the door from the car, said door consisting of an integral'casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one side, and ribs extending substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means respectively.

2. In a railway car, a door with one margin thereof supported from the car by hinges, means for supporting the opposite margin of the door from the car, said door consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel having a smooth surface on one side, ribs extending" substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means respectively, and other ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs.

3. In a railway car, a door with one margin thereof supported from the car by hinges, means for supporting the opposite margin of the door from the car, said door consisting of an integral casting comprising a panel hav-' ing a smooth surface on one side, ribs extending substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means respectively, and other ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs which extend therebeyond and merge into the panel adjacent the margins of the door substantially normal to the aforesaid margins.

4. A hinged door for a railway dump car consisting of an integral casting comprising hinges adjacent one margin thereof, supporting means adjacent the opposite margin there of, a panel having a smooth surface on one side, and ribs extending substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means respectively.

5. A hinged door for a railway dump car consisting of an integral casting comprising hinges adjacent one margin thereof, supporting means adjacent the opposite margin thereof, a panel having a smooth surface on one side, ribs extending substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means res ectively, and other ribs angularly dispose to and merging into the first mentioned ribs.

6. A hinged door for a railway dump car consisting of an integral casting comprising hinges adjacent one margin thereof, supporting means adjacent the opposite margin thereof. a panel having a smooth surface on one side, ribs extending substantially from said hinges to said means which merge into said panel adjacent said hinge and means respectively, and other ribs angularly disposed to and merging into the first mentioned ribs which extend therebeyond and merge into the panel adjacent the margins of the door substantially normal to the aforesaid margins.

GARTH Gr. GILPIN. 

